Coal mining and loading machine



Aug. '11, 1931. F. H. wsn'z 1,313,771

con. unmm AND- LOADING ucnxn mod Sept. 29, 1930! SSheets-Shet 1;

Fm! H. new

. dumm s Aug. 11, 1931. F. H. WEITZ com. MINING AND LOADING mcnm;

FiledSept. 29, 1950 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Aug. 11, 1931.

F. H. WEITZ COAL MINING AND LOADING MACHINE Filed Sept. 29, 1950 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Patented Aug. 11, 1931 i USN;

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FRANKIE." WEiTZ; OF DUBYE'A} PENNSYLVAN'IA COAI- MINING AND LOADING MQC'HIN'E Application filed septmber 29} 19301 Serial} 1m 4s,2sa'2- tothe awkward position in-which the workis being: done; The: coal 'is shot down atthe rear'endofthe-veimthen the miner or'min'ers crawl inand shoveltheloose coal into a shaking 'orother typeof conveyer, then more i 50 coal-is shot down and the operation'repeated, the conveyerbeing added to asthe point of operation-recedes from the point at which the'conveyer is delivering the coal into the mine cars. 1

-' 86 According-to-thepresentinvention, it is proposed to substitute for the conveyer, aforesaid, a-mechan-ism-which-is atonce a conveyer and a shovelling mechanism, Whereby. the necessityj of having the miners'shovel '30 thecoal into the conveyerisavoided. Un-

der themethod ofmy invention, the only manual-labor involved will be the shooting down of the coa1.-

Themechanismthat I have devised is of 85 suchafnatureas to be-extended over con-' siderable distances, through passagesof very litt1e-height, and' reach, pickup and convey the coal tea room where it may be delivered directly into minecars. Further objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth inHthe detail vdescription which follows.

In the accompanying,drawings: V Figlis-"a side elevation of the mechanism, hyvirtue of which my methodof mining may be carried out. i s v V I 1 I 2 is a plan view of said mechanism;

, Fig- 3 is a vertical sectional view-through said mechanism;

Fig. 4 is a rearendelevation ofthemech-anism of Figs. 1,- 2 and- -3.-

view; il'l ustrating thegui'de Way, hereinafter described- 7 Fig". -6 is a detail view, illustrating; :a: pin ral'it-y of con-veyer sections,'showing=,the man; ner of extending theeffective length ofthe shovelling; and conveyingschute. V

The'machine-of the present-invention-com= prisesa frame-Work S Whi-ch may be mounted upon ground Wheels, casters, or equivalent members-6*, so that 'it may; be shiftedwithin a room '7' to operativelyd-isposeit with-respect to difierent points of operation and with re spect to 'dili'erenttraclc sections 8- and mine cars 9 -on sai-d track'sectionsr A tiltable frame 10 is pivotal-lyconnectedat 11' to the-frame-5; said tiltableframe beingf'adapted to haveits inclination varied by means of a-rack bar 12 and pinion 13, the latter being; provided with anvoperating=--handle- 14L The tumble" frame-10 carries guide-wa'ys-15, in which'a plate'16 is mounted to reciprocate." Reciprocatorymovement Y is imparted to -thisplate a'n'd to' 'the' hereinafter described c0nveying and shovellingsections, associated therewith by means ofamonnecting-Tod 17 a trai-n 'of gearing 18, 19, 20 and 21 andthemotor 22: The plate 16' carries bearings 23 upon its under side, in which *a screw 24 is mounted for rotation? Thi's screw'engages a nut25 which depends from a chutesection 26 and thus the chutesectionis caused to reciprocate bodily with plate -16-,'but is capableof beingadjusted longitudinally of said plate, to-be retracted to the position illustrated in Fig-'3 orto be'projected 'materially tothe right. This--capa= bility of the chute sectiorr 26 to be projected during its bodily reciprocation is-utilized' to feed the conveyer and shovel sections'fow ward-ly int-othepileofscoalh To accomplish this automatically, I provide a transverse shaft 27 which carries a pinion 27, said'pin ion meshing: with the corresponding; pinion 24 on thescrew24; Rotation is imparted to the shaft 27 by means of ratchet wheel a11d ratchet :bars28, 28, =29- andw29 L The teeth of theserateht' mechanisms "are so disposed I that when the bar28 'is lowered and the'bar 29 is raised, the movement of the screw" 24 y will bcinone direction andthat whenltheloar 29 is lowered and the bar 28 is raised, the movement of the screw will be in the other direction.

Any suitable means may be employed for effecting the movement of the bars 28 29. As one such means, I have illustrated a lever 30 pivoted at 31 and provided with a pawl member 32 adapted to engage the teeth of the bar 29, said bar being pivoted at 33. When the lever 30 is swung toward the left it elevates bar 29 out of engagement with the ratchet wheel 29. For similarly actuating pawl bar 28 that is pivoted at 3t, I extend a rod 35 across the frame of the machine and provide it with a crank end 36 which engages eneath the pawl bar 28. The opposite end of the rod 35 is provided with a crank eXten sion 37 and handle 38. The chute section 26 is connected with a shovel section 39 by any desired number of intermediate chute sections 40 and it is to be understood that the necessary number of chute sections is employed to project the shovel section into contact with the coal ll that is being mined. I find it practicable to extend these chute sections for a considerable distance into and through the passages 12, left as the result of taking the coal 41 from the veins.

The chute sections are of channel formation and are provided with horizontal outstanding flanges at their upper edges which may be coupled to each other by coupling plates 43 and bolts 44. These horizontal flanges are preferably disposed to ride upon rollers 45 that are carried by L-shaped brackets 46, said brackets being pinned or pegged, as indicated at 47, directly to the floors of the passages 42, though it should be understood that I contemplate providing any necessary guiding and supporting means for the chute sections, this being manifestly within the skill of the engineer. I

At the beginning of a loading operation, the chute sections are retracted, that is to say, the chute section 26 is moved as far to the left as possible and enough intermediate chute sections 40 are put in place as may be necessary to bring the shovel section 39 to the edge of the pile of coal that has been shot down. The machine being then started as, for example, by the energization of motor22, the shovel will be projected forciblyinto the coal by the connecting rod '17 and a certain amount of coal will be picked up by the shovel and started down the chute by the shaking action. The chute and shovel sections will be fed forwardly into the coal by the action of screw 24-, until practically all of the loose coal has been picked up and loaded into the mine cars 9. Then the action of the feed mechanism is reversed, the chute section 26 is retracted and said chute section may be disconnected from the chute sections that are still in the passageway and the machine may be moved to another point and,

connected to the chute sections there in place to load the coal that was shot down during the time that the machine was being used to load the coal at the first station, while during such second period of operation, additional coal may be shot down at the first station and the machine returned to such first station to recover and load the last men tioned coal.

Jack screws 50, provided with lock nuts 51, are adapted to engage the roof or ceiling of the room 7, and these, together with suitable chocks for wheels 6, serve to bind the machine against movement during the loading operation.

I am aware of the fact that many machines have been devised for loading coal, but as far as I am aware, I am the first to provide a machine comprising a combined conveyor and shovel section which is adapted to enter the veins of coal of such small height that even a man cannot stand erect therein and to pick up said coal, convey it from said veins and load it into mine cars in a single operation and without the use of manual labor. Consequently, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the particular mechanism which I have chosen to illustrate as explanatory of the invention, but that, upon the contrary, it includes within its purview whatever changes fairly come within either the terms or the spirit ofthe appended claims. It is manifest that many ways will readily suggest themselves tothe skilled mechanic for securing the desired result, while still retaining the basic principle, constituting the gist of my invention.

Having described my invention, what I claim is 1. A mechanism of the character described, comprising a shovel section, a plurality of conveyer sections, means for securing said sections together end to end, the innermost of said conveyer sections being mounted for reciprocatory movement, a guiding and supporting means for the last named conveyer section, means for imparting reciprocatory movement to said guiding and supporting means and consequently to the last-named conveyer section, and means for adjusting the last named conveyer section longitudinally, with respect to said guiding means, during the reciprocation of the latter.

2. A device of the character described, com prising awheeled supporting frame, a tilt able frame mounted therein, means for adjusting said tiltable frame to varying positions of inclination, a plate slidably mounted upon the tiltable frame, a conveyer section slidably connected with respect to the plate,

additional conveyer sections connected to the first named conveyer section, a shovel sec tion connected at the end of the additional conveyer sections, mechanism for imparting reciprocation to said plate and the parts carried thereby, a feed screw mounted upon the plate, a nut-carried by the first-named con-' ment to the feed screw. 7

3. A device of the character described, comprising a wheeled supporting frame, a tiltable frame mounted thereon, a plate slidably mounted in the tiltable frame, a motor, a train of gearing and a connecting rod for imparting reciprocatory movement to said plate from the motor, a conveyer section slidably mounted upon said plate, a feed screw carried by the plate, a nut carried by the conveyer section and engaging thefeed screw, a transverse shaft, bevelled gears between the feed screw and the transverse shaft, ratchet wheels upon the opposite ends of the transverse shaft, and ratchet bars, engaging said ratchet Wheels, the teeth of the ratchet wheels and ratchet bars being so set as'to feed said conveyer section in one direction or the other,

according to which ofsaidratchet bars is brought into action. 7

4. A structure as recited in claim 3, in com bination with a plurality of additional conveyer sections, a shovel section at the end of said additional conveyer sections, and means for supporting said additional conveyer sections.

5. A coal loading machine for collecting and removing coal from veins of restricted heights comprising a traveling supporting frame of considerably greater height 1 than the vein from which the coal is to be removed, means for mounting said supporting frame to travel longitudinally, a conveyor supported transversely of the said frame and extensible as to length outwardly beyond one side of said frame, said conveyor being located at such an elevated point upon the frame as to be adapted to discharge coal into mine cars from the opposite side of said frame, means upon the supporting frame for imparting a rapid shaking movement to the conveyor throughout all conditions of extensibility thereof, and means for automatically feeding the conveyor as a whole outwardly with respect to the supporting frame and during the shaking movement thereof.

6. A coal loading machine for collecting and removing coal from veins of restricted heightscomprising a traveling supporting frame of considerably greater height than the vein from which the coal is to be removed, means for mounting said supporting frame to travel longitudinally, a conveyor supported transversely of the said frame and extensible as to length outwardly beyond one side of rapid shakin movement to the conveyor throughout al conditions of extensibility thereof, a feed screw, connections between the feed screw and conveyor for feeding the conveyor bodily outward under the influence of the movement of said screw, and automatic means for imparting turning movement to the feed screw during the shaking movement of the conveyor.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

. FRANK H. WEITZ.

said frame, said conveyor being located at such an elevated point upon the frame as to be adapted to discharge coal into mine cars from the opposite side of said frame, means upon the supporting frame for imparting a.

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